(19)
(11) EP 1 422 138 A3

(12) EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION

(88) Date of publication A3:
02.07.2008 Bulletin 2008/27

(43) Date of publication A2:
26.05.2004 Bulletin 2004/22

(21) Application number: 03026297.6

(22) Date of filing: 15.11.2003
(51) International Patent Classification (IPC): 
B64G 1/36(2006.01)
G05D 1/08(2006.01)
 G01C 21/02(2006.01)
(84) Designated Contracting States:
AT BE BG CH CY CZ DE DK EE ES FI FR GB GR HU IE IT LI LU MC NL PT RO SE SI SK TR
Designated Extension States:
AL LT LV MK

(30) Priority: 19.11.2002 US 300454

(71) Applicant: The Boeing Company
Chicago, IL 60606-1596 (US)

(72) Inventors:
  • Needelman, David D.
    Torrance, California 90504 (US)
  • Wu, Yeong-Wei A.
    Rancho Palos Verdes, California 90275 (US)
  • Li, Rongsheng
    Hacienda Heights, California 91745 (US)

(74) Representative: Steil, Christian et al
Witte, Weller & Partner Postfach 10 54 62
70047 Stuttgart
70047 Stuttgart (DE)

   


(54) Attitude acquisition method and spacecraft attitude acquisition and control system


(57) Attitude acquisition methods and systems are provided which reduce the time generally required to acquire spacecraft attitude estimates (76) and enhance the probability of realizing such estimates (76). The methods and systems receive, over a time span Δt, successive frames of star-sensor signals (70) that correspond to successive stellar fields-of-view (102A-102N), estimate spacecraft rotation Δr throughout at least a portion of the time span Δt, and, in response to the spacecraft rotation Δr, process the star-sensor signals (70) into a processed set of star-sensor signals that denote star positions across an expanded field-of-view (120) that exceeds any of the successive fields-of-view (102A-102N). The expanded field-of-view (120) facilitates identification of the stars (104,105,106,108,110,112,114) that generated the processed set of star-sensor signals to thereby acquire an initial attitude estimate (72).







Search report